Shared Laughter
by lezonne
Summary: Hermione reminds George how to laugh again years after his twins death. Written for the Twelve Days of Christmas Challenge part 7 number 5, the Race to the top of the Mountain Challenge #2 and the Pairing Diversity Boot Camp prompt #3.


**A/n: **Written for the _Twelve Days of Christmas Challenge_ part 7 number 5, the _Race to the top of the Mountain Challenge_ #2 (laughter) and the _Pairing Diversity Boot Camp _prompt #3 (luscious).

* * *

Shared Laughter

Once upon a time, George could laugh at most anything. But then one day, everything changed. His other half, his companion since birth was no longer around to keep him company. And George felt the loss all too well.

So did his family. Ginny stayed attached to Harry at the hip, using him like a vice to cope. He accepted the attention rather well, taking her in and together they learned to heal after all the death and destruction they had seen.

But Ron and Hermione? Not so lucky. He pushed her away to try to cope, and she gave him the allotted time that he needed. But when they got back together, their relationship had changed. They didn't fit together anymore, and eventually that broke their relationship apart. It was a mutual agreement to end the relationship.

Yet she stayed in the Weasley's lives, visiting during the holidays and enjoying many outings with her longtime friends. She even managed to drag George out on occasion.

"Smile," she said one evening as they sat together at a restaurant. "At least try and enjoy yourself."

He shook his head, looking away from the pretty brunette who was his date for the evening. "I'm not in the mood to be out tonight Hermione," he muttered, shaking his head. "You know what day it is."

"It's your birthday," she replied, sipping her drink. "Now you've had all day with your family to try to get into the spirit of things, and you've had even longer to try and smile. I know you miss him George, but you have to at least enjoy your birthday."

"It's his birthday too," he says, slouching further in his seat. "Only Fred stopped aging four years ago."

She flinched at his words but didn't argue his point. She might not be as affected but what happened as some of the Weasley's were, but she did grieve for Fred. The twins were kind of like a package deal, and it hurt to see George suffering so much, even though it had been several years. He just could not move on.

And all she wanted was to see him smile. He hadn't let a true smile light up his face in years. His soul was too tormented by the past, and he let it hold him back from any sort of future. Ron and Harry had been the ones designing toys for George's joke shop the past several years. He hasn't personally tried to joke about anything in a long time, and it hurt her. He was so free-spirited before everything went down, and she wished he could experience that kind of freedom again. Merlin knew he needed it.

"You really aren't going to enjoy dinner, are you?"

He shrugged. "You tried this last year too Hermione. I don't enjoy much of anything on my birthday."

"You don't enjoy much of anything anyway," she muttered, finishing off her drink in one gulp. She pulled out some money and threw down a tip before standing. "Come on then, we're going out."

"It's absolutely frigid outside and you want me to go out there?"

"Yes, I do. Come on George, I promise it'll be worth your time."

He sighed, but nonetheless stood up and followed her out. Hermione meant well, and he could at least humor her. He didn't really think anything she could do would brighten his day, but he may as well give this a shot. What did he have to lose at this point?

"So what are we doing out here Hermione?" he asked as she led him outside. "I hope it's a good reason. It's bloody cold outside."

She chuckled as she bent and picked up some snow, packing it in. "You sound like Ron when you say that."

"Say what?"

"Bloody."

He frowned, titling his head. "What exactly are you doing down there?"

"Oh… nothing." Before he could say another word she threw a fluffy snowball at him, the poor thing disappearing midair. The snow was simply too fluffy to stay together.

They both paused as stared at the missing snowball. It never even collided with him, despite the fact that they stood only a few feet away. Even though it was frigid cold, they just stood there and stared.

Then George started to laugh, an honest laugh. She was so surprised by the sound that she almost fell over. How long had it been since she heard that noise?

But there he was, really laughing. He actually had to grip his sides from how hard he was laughing. The sheer silliness of what just happened got to him, and after so long of holding everything in he let it out, and eventually ended up sitting on a nearby step, wiping his eyes in the bitter cold.

Hermione just tried to throw a snowball at him to make him feel better, and it didn't even work. Had the wind been blowing at that particular moment the snow would've blown backward and attacked her. He found that redundantly funny.

She smiled, sitting down beside him. "Well I at least got you to laugh."

He chuckled one last time, eyes looking over to meet hers. "That you did Hermione, that you did."

"Well, happy birthday George. You're welcome for having your first honest laugh in four long years."

"Yeah, it felt good," he agreed, a smile tugging at his chapped lips. "I haven't felt that light in quite a long time."

The brunette smiled, jerking her head towards the nearest shop. "Come on, let's go look through there so we can warm up. Then we can go meet your brothers at the club down the street. They still expect us to be there to celebrate. I bet they'll jump for joy when they hear that you laughed and smiled all in one day."

"Probably," he said, following her towards the shop. She slipped on some ice and nearly fell, but he was there right behind her to save her from hitting the cold ground. She ended up against his chest.

"And look, we can add another thing to the list. You've fallen for me today too!"

She arched an eyebrow as she straightened out, turning to face him. They were standing very close together. "It's been too long since you shared some proper jokes. That was utterly lame."

"Yeah… I have to get back into the swing of things," he muttered, attention suddenly diverted. Hermione was standing very close to him, smelling of lilac and wine. Her luscious, pink lips immediately caught his attention. It would be terribly wrong to bend down and steal a kiss…

The moment was gone before George could react, and he tried to quickly shake the notion out of his head. He couldn't possibly be considering kissing his brother's ex! That would make for a terribly messed up story… or an absolutely hilarious joke. Either way, he couldn't fathom why he was suddenly so entranced by Hermione's kissable lips. He'd seen and been close to those lips plenty of times before!

But today he finally started waking up. He laughed again for the first true time in four years. He smiled at something and truly meant it. And sweet Hermione had grown up in the past four years. She wasn't just his kid brother's ex-girlfriend anymore.

She was a woman, and he watched her lovely figure pause outside the door to the shop, eyeing him through the falling snow.

"Are you coming!?"

He shook his head again, starting towards the brunette. He was careful to miss the ice-patch she slipped on. When he reached her side his cheeks were pink, but for different reasons than she might expect. She grinned up at him, grabbing his hand as she opened the door.

Well that didn't help.

"Come on, I saw that they have some new Quidditch supplies in. I thought that you might like looking at the new merchandise before we head down to meet the others. Let's get inside, it's so cold!"

He followed her in, paying more attention to her than the items in the shop. George could feel his attention weaning, his thought shifting for the first time in years from his deceased twin to someone else.

Hermione had caught his attention in more ways than one tonight. And maybe as he healed and got better, he could attract hers too.

_~FIN~_


End file.
